Infant

Orange County deputies are investigating an incident Sunday evening in which a two-year-old child was hospitalized after being bitten in the face by a pit bull. Deputies indicated the male infant was reportedly playing with the dog when it lashed out and latched on to the child's face. Authorities said a neighbor called 911 to report the incident. The neighbor told emergency personnel he ran to his home to retrieve his firearm; shot the dog in the neck and got it to release the child.

In a video she posted on Facebook, 21-year-old Tori Potter giggles with delight as she watches her 10-week-old son sniffing and trying to sneeze. "OMG! Lol," Potter wrote. "He was trying to sneeze but couldn't get it out! Bahahaha. Funniest thing ever. Ignore my squeaky laugh. " The 1 1/2 -minute video was Potter's last status update. The next day the Astor woman and her baby, Terry William Peterson, were killed in a collision with a dump truck on State Road 40 while Potter headed to a job interview at a day-care center in DeLand.

A Volusia County woman faces child neglect charges after a baby in her care swallowed oxycodone pills she left on a dresser. Chanda McRae, 31, is accused of three counts of child neglect because there were two other children, ages 3 and 4, in the home at the time, Volusia County Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said. She posted $6,000 bail for her release from the Volusia County Branch Jail near Daytona Beach. McRae noticed the 1-year-old boy was appeared to be in a daze Thursday and decided to drive him to a hospital, Davidson said.

Deputies are still investigating after a 9-month-old girl was found dead in a room at the Liki Tiki Village resort near Winter Garden on Saturday. The child was identified as Demareona Clay, of Louisiana, on Thursday. She came to Central Florida with her grandmother to attend a family reunion. The girl's mother couldn't get vacation time from work so she stayed behind in Louisiana, deputies say. Although the official cause of death has still not been released, deputies say the girl's death does not seem suspicious and was likely accidental.

A 35-year-old woman and her 17-month-old daughter are both dead after the mother shot the infant and then turned the gun on herself, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune is reporting. The shooting happened around 9:45 a.m. Sunday while the child's father was out riding his scooter. As he was arriving back to their home in Sarasota, he heard gunshots and called 911. Sarah Harnish, the mother, was found shot to death in her home. The 17-month old Josephine Boice, who police previously reported as 10 months old, was airlifted All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, and police later reported that she had died.

Two women and an infant died in unrelated car crashes Tuesday in Central Florida. About 8:20 a.m., Rosa Ruivo, of Orlando, lost control of her Hyundai on westbound State Road 528 while driving her 6-year-old daughter to school. The car went off the left side of the road into the center median, said Sgt. Kim Miller of the Florida Highway Patrol. Ruivo, 41, overcorrected, and the car rolled into trees on the right side of the highway. Ruivo, who was wearing a seat belt, died at the scene.

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (AP) — Authorities in southwest Florida say an autopsy is pending for an infant whose body was found in a freezer. Punta Gorda police tell the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that detectives consider the baby's death to be suspicious. According to a police report, paramedics and police were called to the Punta Gorda home Sunday night for a medical emergency involving a 27-year-old woman, who was transported to a Port Charlotte hospital. Police say the hospital on Monday gave them information that prompted officers to return to the woman's home.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A South Daytona man has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for severely beating his 4-week-old infant daughter. A judge sentenced 22-year-old Richard Wayne Hager on Wednesday. He pleaded no contest to aggravated child abuse in January. Hager's infant daughter was treated for multiple and severe skull fractures and bruises in 2008. He initially denied striking the girl, and the girl's mother lost custody for seven months while state child welfare officials investigated.

A 21-year-old mother could face charges for leaving her 7-month-old daughter locked in a car while she went to the mall, a local news station is reporting. The woman left her daughter locked in a silver Chevrolet Equinox near the Merritt Square 16 Theatre at the Merritt Square Mall around 8:15 p.m. Wednesday, according to ClickOrlando.com. Brevard County deputies were notified after a passerby saw the child. The mother was not arrested. To read more, click here .

Orlando police are investigating the near drowning of an infant in a pool in Pine Hills on Thursday evening, said Lt. Darnell Hill. Police were called to the 5000 block of Mallard Pond Court, which is in the area of Pine Hills Road and North Lane, around 6:25 p.m. The infant did not have any vitals when pulled out of the pool and is undergoing treatment at the hospital. Hill said when he left the hospital the child was alive but not out of danger. The infant's grandmother was watching the child at the time of the incident, Hill said.

SANFORD — A judge this morning sentenced a 20-year-old deaf babysitter to 15 years in prison for spending time on Facebook while, in another room, a 9-month-old baby drown in the bathtub. Mariah Berry pleaded no contest to aggravated manslaughter in March. Assistant State Attorney Sara Shumway asked that Berry be sent to prison for 14 years, the lowest punishment recommended by state sentencing guidelines. But Circuit Judge John Galluzzo opted for 15 years, calling what happened a tragedy and saying that he had little recourse but to punish her for the baby's death.

FBI agents said they found hundreds of images depicting child pornography - including the abuse of an infant - on an Orlando man's computer and other electronic devices. Joaquin Velez-Martinez, 24, was arrested Friday when agents searched his home on Merrimac Cove Drive. Federal court records said Velez-Martinez admitted he had more than 1,000 pictures and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children on one of his thumb drives. Agents said those images depicted the sexual abuse of infants, toddlers and boys.

An Amber Alert for a once-missing 5-month-old girl from Sarasota was canceled today after she was found safe in a neighboring county. "The baby has been located in Manatee Co and is safe! Investigation ongoing at this time," Sarasota police said on Facebook. Details about Brianna Martinez's case were not immediately available. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement earlier today said she was with 31-year-old Aldequndo Benitez-Caivillo. This morning, Sarasota Police said they didn't think the child was abducted.

SANFORD —Two years ago, a deaf woman, Mariah Berry, was supposed to be watching a 9-month-old baby and his 2-year-old sister, but she left them alone in the bathtub for an hour, and when she checked again, the infant was floating face-down. Rescuers tried to revive him, but he died at a hospital later after spending several days on a respirator. Berry, then age 18, has been in the Seminole County Jail since the accident – July 23, 2012. She is charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child and faces a possible 30-year prison sentence.

KISSIMMEE — Matthew Coleman's tiny son remained in critical condition at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children on Thursday, a day after being shaken by his father, according to police. The three-month-old infant was not breathing and suffering from an apparent brain injury when Kissimmee firefighters responded shortly after noon on Wednesday to the family home on Grand Cayman Court, police records state. Coleman, 21, told detectives he became frustrated when his son would not stop crying and that he had shaken and thrown him on a bed, Capt.

A 5-week-old Clermont baby is fighting for his life after he stopped breathing while drinking forumla and was resuscitated this morning, police said. Clermont officers responded to a 911 call about 7:50 a.m. to find a woman standing in the doorway of an apartment with a 5-week-old boy in her arms, they said. The mother told officers that the boy, who appeared lifeless, had accidentally inhaled formula. Officers Christopher Vigeant and Ramon Rodriguez tried to revive the boy until an ambulance arrived.

Jurors in the trial of a man charged with murdering his 4-month-old daughter heard testimony Wednesday about the "catastrophic" nature of the brain injuries that led to the girl's death. Luis Omar Rivera, 29, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his daughter, Jaliya Rivera, who was fatally injured while in his care in November 2010, according to authorities. Dr. Stephen Nelson, a Winter Haven-based medical examiner who consulted on the case, testified Wednesday that Jaliya suffered skull fractures and numerous brain injuries before she died.

Holly Sorensen placed a Santa hat on her son, Connor. He was dressed in a grey sweater on a very warm day in Orlando, but his mom wanted him to look just right for his trip home, and certainly to have the look of the season. It was two days before Christmas, and having her son come home was the best gift that Holly Sorensen could have imagined. “Today is the greatest day of my life,” she said. “Oh, look - he smiled when I said that.” Connor Sorensen wasn't talking, but no one minded.